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Backman is currently managing the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, hoping another major league team will give him a chance to manage in the big leagues after his short-lived run with the Diamondbacks in 2004.

Ten years after Wally Backman was fired from his managerial position with the Arizona Diamondbacks before he ever managed a single game due to a report that surfaced saying he was hiding legal and financial problems (you can read more here), he's still hoping for another shot in the big leagues.

Backman, who started his comeback in independent ball, has worked his way up to Triple-A, where he is currently in his second season as the manger of the Las Vegas 51s in the Pacific Coast League. The 51s won a division title in 2013 and are poised to win another one this season (they are leading by 10.5 games with just a couple of weeks remaining).

Backman, 54, was a guest on the Omaha Storm Chasers pre-game show with Mark Nasser recently when Las Vegas visited Omaha. Nasser asked him what he learned from the experience with Arizona.

"Well, you know ... it was a growing period, I guess" he said. "They thought that I wasn't totally honest them. I felt that I was - you know, everything that was out there - just an unfortunate situation and I tried to put all that behind me.

"The Wilpons gave me another opportunity to come back into affiliated baseball and do what I want to do. I know what I'm capable of doing. My desires have not changed at all to manage in the big leagues. I think I'll get an opportunity at some time.

"Right now, my main concern and goal is to try to get these guys better here in Las Vegas and to try to get them to the big leagues."

Nasser asked him what made him think he had the tools to be a successful major league manager.

"Well, I'm a players' guy," Backman said. "The only thing people have to do is talk to the players that I have managed over the course of my career - the Carlos Quentins, the Dan Ugglas, the Conor Jacksons, the Aaron Rowands. They're the ones who can really speak for me as opposed to me speaking for myself.

"But I take a lot of pride in knowing how to run a bullpen. I think that's one of the key ingredients - that and communication with your players, and I try to keep my door open all the time and be honest with my players."

Nasser and Backman also had a little fun during the interview, talking about Backman's playing days with the Mets - more specifically the 1986 World Championship team. Backman said many of the players from that team still get together every other year, and he went on to hint that it wouldn't have mattered whether Bill Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly or not in Game 6.

"The Houston series was an unbelievable, well-pitched series," Backman said. "The guys were scared to face Mike Scott if it went to Game 7 and to be able to come back in Game 6 the way we did and win that game, and then doing the same thing basically against Boston in Game 6 of the World Series, coming back with Buckner making the error at first base.

"Everybody doesn't know, but Mookie [Wilson] was going to be safe at first, anyway. I don't know if we would have scored all those other runs, but it was very, very fortunate for us."

----

The Cubs rookie righthander could get some Rookie of the Year votes if he keeps this up.

I told you guys about Kyle Hendricks in spring training.

Yes, I understand completely the reasons he didn't make the Opening Day roster and I think he was called up at exactly the right time. And I do know he'll need to make adjustments once he faces a team for the second time, because they're surely going to do the same.

Hendricks had yet another outstanding start in an early-afternoon game in New York Monday, and he was given his fifth win by Anthony Rizzo's 28th home run in the eighth inning. Javier Baez added a monstrous two-run, upper-deck homer in the ninth inning and the Cubs defeated the Mets 4-1. They got out of New York with a series split, and won the season series from the Mets five games to two.

If it seems to you as if Rizzo's done a lot of this sort of late-inning homer heroics this year, you're right:

Anthony Rizzo now has 4 go-ahead HR in the 7th inning or later this season (most in MLB). It's most by Cub since Soriano (5) in 2009

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 18, 2014

With Rizzo within shouting distance of 30 home runs, now seems as a good time as any to remind you that since Rick Monday hit 32 in 1976, only three Cubs lefthanded hitters have hit 30 or more homers in a season: Rick Wilkins (30) in 1993, Henry Rodriguez (31) in 1998 and Fred McGriff (30) in 2002. There have been just 10 seasons in all of Cubs history with 30 homers from a lefthanded hitter, five of them by Billy Williams. Here's the entire list. Hopefully, Rizzo will show up frequently on that list in the years to come.

Courtesy BCBer ubercubsfan, here's Rizzo's homer:

And Baez's:

Carlos Torres has made 16 starts out of his 131 total major-league appearances. Two of those starts, including the one Monday, have been against the Cubs. (Here's the other one.) The Cubs have yet to score a run off Torres as a starter -- 15 innings, just eight hits total, 12 strikeouts. Go figure, because overall Torres has a 5.61 ERA as a starter.

That's why it was a good thing when Torres had to leave the game after the fifth inning and 86 pitches (after having appeared in relief Sunday), because the Cubs didn't waste any time scoring a run off reliever Dana Eveland. Rizzo's double and a single by Luis Valbuena tied the game 1-1, after Hendricks had given up a solo home run to Lucas Duda. For the most part, though, Hendricks had yet another start that mirrored his last few: lots of ground balls (including one on which Starlin Castro made a great play to end the seventh inning), lots of strikes thrown and an efficient pitch count (94 in seven innings). The Cubs definitely have a keeper in Hendricks, who allowed just two singles apart from the home run. Just how dominant has Hendricks been?

Kyle Hendricks allowed 3 earned runs in his first MLB inning. Since then: 6 ER in 47.2 IP (1.13 ERA) #Cubs

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) August 18, 2014

Neil Ramirez (a nice 1-2-3 inning with a couple of K's) and Hector Rondon (18th save) finished up without incident. In short, this was the type of game we hope to see a lot more of in future seasons. Curiously, the one hit Rondon allowed was the Mets' fourth -- they had exactly four hits in each of the four games.

The quickie road trip to New York has ended, and the Cubs return to Wrigley Field to begin a six-game homestand starting Tuesday night at 7:05 CT. The Giants make their only 2014 visit to Wrigley this week and Tsuyoshi Wada will face San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong.

The Mets dropped their second straight game to the Cubs despite an unexpectedly solid spot start from Carlos Torres.

The Mets lost again this afternoon to the Cubs, as the latter scored four runs against the Mets' bullpen to end a pretty miserable home stand for the boys from Flushing with a 4-1 loss. The Mets managed only four hits, and their sole run came on a Lucas Duda home run in the fifth. Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks earned his fifth win in seven games since being called up on July 10.

Considering he had no idea he was filling in for Bartolo Colon until early this morning; Carlos Torres pitched shockingly well for the Mets, as he threw five shutout innings and struck out six. The Mets' relief pitchers, on the other hand, did not perform nearly as well. Dana Eveland allowed the Cubs to tie the game in the sixth, while in the eighth, Buddy Carlyle let up a solo home run to Anthony Rizzo. Jenrry Meija then came on in the ninth and gave up his second home run in as many days, this one a two-run shot off the bat of Javier Baez.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

Colon, who is currently on the bereavement list while visiting his critically ill mother, was scratched from his start today.

The Mets will recall Gonzalez Germen to replace Bartolo Colon, who has been placed on the bereavement list while visiting his mother in the Dominican Republic. As reported earlier, Colon's mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, and is currently in critical condition.

Germen has not fared well so far this season in the major leagues, striking out a respectable 8.89 batters per nine innings, but walking nearly four batters per nine and, more alarmingly, giving up two home runs per nine as well, leading to an ugly 4.78 ERA and 5.37 FIP. In his past 10 games with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, his numbers have looked similar, striking out eleven and walking five while collecting five saves, although he has done a good job keeping the ball in the park during that stretch. It is likely that Germen will only be with the major league club briefly until Colon returns to the team.

The Mets ended a disappointing homestand with another miserable offensive performance in a 4-1 loss to the Cubs.

There were a two positive aspects of today's game versus the Cubs. First of all, David Wright was, somewhat surprisingly, in the starting lineup despite injuring his shoulder in Saturday's game. Secondly, Carlos Torres was, quite surprisingly, very good in his spot-start filling in for Bartolo Colon.

Sadly though, the Mets offense was, unsurprisingly, limited against Kyle Hendricks, as they managed only four hits and one run all game, and ended this series with a 4-1 loss this afternoon.

This loss occurred despite the aforementioned effort by Torres, who threw five shutout innings. Torres struck out six over that span, with half of them coming in the first, when he struck out the side to start things off. He allowed a leadoff hit in the second to Starlin Castro, but set down the next three men in order and had 1-2-3 third to give Mets fans hope that the day was not lost despite Colon's absence.

The only real trouble Torres faced came in the fourth. After a Javier Baez groundout, Torres walked Anthony Rizzo. Though the Mets starter then got Starlin Castro to fly out to Juan Lagares, Luis Valbuena came up with two outs and singled to right. Justin Ruggiano then got on with an infield hit that Torres deflected off his foot to load the bases with two outs. Dan Warthen came out to talk to Torres, and after a short discussion, the right-hander promptly struck out Cubs catcher Welington Castillo to escape the jam and preserve his shutout.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Mets offense finally got to Hendricks, who had cruised through the first three innings without any real issue. After David Wright popped out to center to start things off, Lucas Duda homered to right center to put the Mets on top 1-0. That was all they got though, as Travis d’Arnaud followed Duda’s homer by popping out to Castillo, and though Matt den Dekker walked, he was caught stealing during Juan Lagares at-bat, allowing Hendricks to escape the fourth with only one run being charged to him. The Mets registered only one more hit the whole game.

Torres started his fifth and final inning by setting down the first two batters he saw, but then issued a walk to center fielder Arismendy Alcantara to put a runner on first with two outs. Fortunately, next batter Javier Baez hit a grounder to Wilmer Flores, and the Mets shortstop made a brilliant off-balance throw to get Baez at first. (Rick Renteria challenged the call to no avail.) Thus, Torres exited the game with a 1-0 lead, and was in place to earn a well-deserved win.

The Mets bullpen remedied that situation in the sixth. Dana Eveland came on to relieve Torres, and promptly gave up a leadoff double to Anthony Rizzo. Though Eveland struck out the next batter, Luis Valbuena then singled to right to drive in the Cubs first run of the game. Buddy Carlyle came on to replace Eveland after this occurred, and set the next two batters down without any issue to strand Valbuena and keep the score tied at one. Though Carlyle had a 1-2-3 inning the seventh, the Cubs scored again in the top of eighth, as Anthony Rizzo hit his twenty-ninth home run of the year to put the Cubs up 2-1.

The final runs for the Cubs came in the ninth against Jenrry Meija, who came on to pitch that inning to the eternal joy of Mets fans everywhere. The good news: the Cubs did not score a run on Meija’s first pitch of the day, as they did yesterday. The bad news: Meija quickly gave up a single to pinch hitter Ryan Sweeney, and after Alcantara flew out to center field, Javier Baez hit a tape-measure shot to left that probably came down with snow on it to put the Cubs up 4-1. Meija got out of the inning without allowing any more runs, but alas, though Daniel Murphy led off with a double in the bottom of the ninth, Hector Rondon then set down David Wright, Lucas Duda, and Travis d'Arnaud to end the game.

SB Nation GameThreads

* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* Bleed Cubbie Blue GameThread

Win Probability Added

(What's this?)

Big winners: Carlos Torres, 26.0; Lucas Duda, 16.5
Big losers: Dana Eveland, -19.3; Buddy Carlyle, -15.7
Teh aw3s0mest play: Lucas Duda homer, bottom of the fourth
Teh sux0rest play: Anthony Rizzo homer, top of the eighth
Total pitcher WPA: -12.8
Total batter WPA: -37.2
GWRBI!: Anthony Rizzo homer, top of the eighth

Jake will keep throwing and Kris will get back to swinging. Others are learning on the job, we wonder if Starlin is the apple of New York's eye, and Len Kasper dismisses your predictions.

Can't use yard work, so I'll have to blame today's lack of witty on it being Monday.

From Comcast SportsNet

• Jake Arrieta is planning to finish strong, regardless of whether the Cubs decide to shut him down early.
• And it seems the Cubs have no intention of shutting Arrieta down.
• The Cubs are not shutting downKris Bryant, so you can breathe again.
• Rob Manfred was elected as the next Commissioner. Here's what that election might mean for the Cubs.
• Starlin Castro showed the Metswhat they're missing.

From Cubs Den

• Mike Moody looks at the benefits of speed.

• VIDEO: Rick Renteria says Arismendy Alcantara fits the profile of a lead-off hitter.
• VIDEO: Matt Szczur talks about his debut.
• VIDEO: Kyle Hendricks talks about his quality starts.
• And it was a happy homecoming of sorts for Szczur.
• If you're a little frustrated with all the strikeouts by the Cubs' offense, deal with it. Because that may well be whiff of the future.
• Mark Gonzales handles a mailbag that the Trib types deemed worthy of public consumption instead of being behind the registration wall.
• The Washington Nationals signed former Cub Nate Schierholtz to a minor league deal.

From the Chicago Sun-Times 

• Starlin Castro seems to be a favorite topic for the New York media.
• Carlos Villanueva says the players union does not fear the new commissioner.

From the Daily Herald

• Not super Cub-centric, but Matt Spiegel writes about measuring pitching wisdom.
• Len Kasper writes that making predictions makes little sense.

Today's food for thought

• Emmert's Law proves that your mind forces you to see what you suspect.
• Here's a super close-up look at one of the world's most venomous spiders.

Your Tuesday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.

Meet the Mets

The Mets meager offense barely made an appearance again yesterday, as our heroes fell to the Cubs 4-1 after managing only four hits, and giving up the late lead for the second straight day. Choose a recap here: Amazin' Avenue short, long, Newsday, Star-Ledger, Daily News, Post, New York Times

Andy Martino says that the Mets are need to give their fans something to grasp on to for 2015.

George Willis wonders just how much David Wright's shoulder is impacting him. Mike Vorkunov echoed those sentiments.

Jorge Arangure, Jr. thinks that David Wright's troubles are the result of one particular headfirst slide.

Howie Kussoy writes on Carlos Torres' resurgence, which has earned props from Terry Collins.

Cody Derespina writes thatKevin Plawecki is coming around in Triple-A.

Around the N.L. East

The Nationals walked off on an Adam LaRoche homer in the eleventh inning, to defeat the D-Backs.

Jason Heyward and Adrelton Simmons went yard in the first, and the Braves never looked back as they beat the Pirates 7-3.

Waiver wire pickup Jerome Williams cruised, as the Phillies knocked the Marinersdown a peg in the A.L. Wild Card race.

Around the Majors

Cuban prospect Rusney Castillo is looking to sign with a team shortly.

Jeff Sullivan looks at how pitchers are approaching Javier Baez.

After a concussion, the Twins have opted to end top prospect Byron Buxton's season.

The Angels took sole possession of first in the A.L. West for the first time since May 2011.

Richard Sandomir writes that the Orioles and Nationals illustrate an interesting problem for regional sports networks.

Our old friend Jose Reyes has a very unique haircut!

Mike Francesa has agreed to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and I, for one, can't wait to see which hair bonnet he chooses.

Yesterday at AA

Chris McShane posted his player perfomance meters for the week. Pitchers can be found here, and position players here.

Lukas Vlahos takes a look at the bullpen's current state.

If you see a story you think would be a great addition to Mets Morning News, send us an email at our tips address, tips@grission.com, and we'll try to add it in.

More from Amazin' Avenue

Follow @AmazinAvenueFollow @SBNationMLB

• Mets Daily Farm Report, 8/19/14: Home stretch
• Mets vs. Cubs Recap: Sisyphus and his rock
• Bartolo Colon placed on bereavement list, Gonzalez Germen recalled
• Final Score: Cubs 4, Mets 1—More offensive ineptitude
• Bartolo Colon scratched from today's start, Carlos Torres to start

The brilliant and temporarily season-saving outing may have been aided by something called "Mexican Shotgun."

I actually bought Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life book last year when it was published, but I didn't get around to reading it until I bought an extra copy for my brother at Matthew's book signing on the Upper West Side just a few days ago. It was an awesome time, and Matthew is even cooler in person than he is in his in his column, podcasts, on television, etc.

But what you're really here for is a John Maine story. There are a lot of fun stories in Fantasy Life, but the one about Maine should be especially amusing to Mets fans who suffered through the bitter end of the 2007 season.

On September 29 of that year, the Mets had lost five games in a row and were one game behind the Phillies for first place in the National League East. Although it seemed like the decimation of the Mets was complete, they still had two more days to catch the Phillies and save their season.

What happened next was incredible. Maine pitched the game of his life, striking out 14 Marlins and walking just a pair in 7⅔ innings. He had a no-hitter going with two out in the eighth inning, but Florida catcher Paul Hoover rolled a weak ground ball down the third-base line for an infield single. The Phillies lost to Washington that day to create a tie for first in the division, and the Mets controlled their own destiny again.

Was the outstanding pitching all Maine's doing, though? According to Fantasy Life, the Mets may have had some help from an unlikely ally that day. Berry relays a story about a fellow fantasy baseball player, "Zac," who was working for the Marlins that season.

The night in question was Friday, September 28, 2007 and all Zac need for his title was one last great starting pitching performance along with a win. From John Maine of the Mets. Who was pitching the next afternoon at 1:00 PM versus the Marlins. It was against this backdrop that Zac and his buddy arrived that Friday night at a bar with some of the team and shared a drink with a few Marlins players. And after they all hoisted a few, an interesting, if not exactly kosher, idea occurred to Zac.

"All we need to do is get a few more of them drunk and my boy Maine should cruise through the lineup."

Fast-forward to midnight that night. "Some front-office staff, a lot of players, a couple of female sales interns, and myself meet up at a trendy bar called Whiskey Park. Drinks were flowing. The bullpen was buying... but I was buying more to make sure they got extra rowdy."

Back at the hotel room...

"We proceeded to play 'Mexican Shotgun,' which was a game I made up on the spot. It consisted of shotgunning a beer and chasing it with tequila... The next morning I felt like shit, but I also felt confident in unleashing Maine as my last starter to grab a title. I also called all my compulsive gambler friends and let them know that the Mets' money line was the play of the century."

The rest, as we know, is history. Maine defeated the apparently hungover Marlins to give Mets fans hope that the 2007 season wouldn't be a total bust. Even if this story is of questionable authenticity, I'm still disappointed (but not devastated!) that "Zac" couldn't find it in himself to go out one more night for some drinks with the team. Tom Glavine could have used some help on September 30.

As the Rockies' oft-injured superstars undergo their latest round of surgeries, the Mets should turn their attention elsewhere.

The recent news that both Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez will undergo season-ending surgery has thrown a monkey wrench into the Mets’ offseason plans.

Or maybe this development brings some clarity to the team's expected pursuit of a quality shortstop and corner outfielder. Perhaps the latest round of surgeries for the oft-injured superstars is yet another glaring sign that the Mets would be wise to invest their resources elsewhere.

Tulowitzki's and Gonzalez’s extensive injury histories are well known. Due to various physical maladies, each player has reached the 130-games-played plateau in just one of the last four seasons: for Tulowitzki, it was back in 2011; for Gonzalez, it was in 2012.

In addition to the number of games they've missed, consider the timing of their injuries. Since 2011, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez have missed just 24 games combined in the months of April and May. Generally, their physical breakdowns have occurred in the second half of the season, particularly toward the end of the year. With his 2014 season now over, by year's end Tulowitzki will have played in a total of 34 September games since 2011. Gonzalez, too, will miss all of September 2014 after missing 18 games in September 2013, 10 games in September 2012 (plus the last 3 games played in October of that year), and 14 games in September 2011.

Tulowitzki's and Gonzalez's apparent inability to finish a season in good health should concern any team considering either one as a cornerstone around which to build a championship-caliber team. Imagine, for a moment, trying to make a World Series run with Wilmer Flores filling in for Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop, or Matt den Dekker taking Carlos Gonzalez’s place in left field. A championship team—especially one that relies heavily on its pitching—simply needs its best hitters in the lineup through the month of October. Both players' track records suggest that they have trouble even making it to September.

Of course, making the playoffs in the first place requires winning regular season games and, despite their lost time on the field, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez have contributed a substantial number of wins during these injury-plagued years. Tulowitzki has averaged a strong 4.4 fWAR per season since 2011, while Gonzalez has averaged a solid, but more modest, 2.6 fWAR.

Based on their superb levels of production when healthy, it would be tempting to make a trade and worry about October if and when the time comes. Unfortunately, their injury histories suggest all too clearly that they are simply not built to last a full season. And if an organization’s goal is to play competitive October baseball, it needs players who are actually capable of playing baseball in October.

Moreover, with both players soon entering their 30s, it's hard to imagine them becoming less injury-prone going forward. The fact that either player would cost several high-level prospects and a nice chunk of change (over $50 million still owed to Gonzalez and over $100 million to Tulowitzki) makes the wisdom of such a trade even more questionable.

And then there’s the issue of Coors Field. As is the case with virtually every Rockies player, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez perform far better at high-altitude Coors Field than they do on the road. These stark home/road splits imply that their raw numbers would probably decline upon joining a team that doesn't call Coors Field home.

It is important, however, to note the obvious caveats to drawing conclusions based on home/road splits, particularly those involving Rockies hitters. For example, players generally perform better at home than they do on the road; the Rockies play a disproportionate share of road games in the pitcher-friendly parks of their division-rival Padres, Giants, and Dodgers; and, when on the road, Rockies hitters are forced to adjust to breaking pitches with more movement than those they are accustomed to seeing in their high-altitude home park. That said, one should not ignore how a Rockies hitter performs on the road—especially when trying to project how he would perform for a team that plays 81 home games at pitcher-friendly Citi Field

Tulowitzki’s home/road splits are not terribly concerning. Even if one were to completely disregard his impressive career numbers at Coors Field (.323/.397/.565, 134 wRC+), his production on the road (.274/.349/.469, 118 wRC+) alone would make him an elite offensive shortstop. Plus, in an admittedly small sample size of 58 plate appearances, Tulowitzki has compiled a monstrous .438/.534/.833 slash line at Citi Field. Still, it’s worth remembering that, should the Mets acquire Tulowitzki, they would likely get something closer to the road version of Tulo, rather than the Coors Field version—or certainly the superhuman Citi Field version we’ve seen thus far.

Gonzalez's splits are more of a concern. In Coors Field, Gonzalez’s production (.329/.387/.601, 140 wRC+) surpasses even Tulowitzki's. On the road, however, Gonzalez is a career .258/.314/.437 hitter, with a barely league-average 101 wRC+; in his 43 plate appearances at Citi Field, he has hit a meager .132/.233/.237. Again, this is not to say that Gonzalez would necessarily be a league-average player as a Met, but his performance away from Coors Field should at least be noted.

To be clear, Tulowitzki and Gonzalez are extremely talented players. Any team would be lucky to have either one at the right price. Unfortunately, the cost of acquiring them at this stage of their careers would be several top-tier prospects and a sizable financial commitment. Given their injury histories—and, to a lesser extent, their lower levels of production away from Coors Field—that cost seems too high.

Which is not to suggest that the Mets stand pat during the offseason. After all, they are still in desperate need of upgrades at shortstop and a corner outfield position. The Mets can and should expand their payroll and aggressively test the market for some of their abundant quality prospects. But, to paraphrase Breaking Bad’s Walter White, when it comes to Gonzalez and Tulowitzki, perhaps their best course would be to tread lightly.

Remember when you could watch a baseball game in two hours and change?

On July 4th, 1985, I had the basic idea for what is now known as the DVR.

How do I know this? Because that’s the date of that crazy 19-inning Mets-Braves game that ended around four in the morning. And that’s where I got the idea.

But sadly I didn’t invent the thing. Dammit Jim, I’m a writer, not Bill Gates.

I had moved to the southeast, was out that evening and was taping the game. The deal was that I’d wait for my dad’s call to tell me when the game was over so I could rewind the VHS tape and start watching.

10pm, no call from Dad. 11pm, still no call and the tape was running out. Finally I called him and found out about the rain delay, so I hadn’t missed much.

And then it hit me … if only you could watch what you already recorded on the VCR and still keep taping. Which is the basic principle of the DVR.

But fast forward to 2014, and that’s not the only great thing about the invention. Not when the game of baseball moves at the pace of continental drift.

So if you’ve watched a Mets game in real time lately and at some point grabbed a magazine, your computer, or a deck of cards, you need to learn how to watch baseball on the DVR. Four hours magically becomes two.

Here’s what an infomercial would sound like for a system to watch the Mets:

“Tired of waiting around while Terry Collins makes a visit to the mound long enough for you to open an IRA? Do you really want to watch batters step out of the box after every swing and adjust, you know, stuff? Have you ever yelled at the TV, ‘Hey, Dice-K, do I have to call the psychic hotline to see if you’re gonna throw a pitch sometime in the near future?’ Well, help is on the way with the new Mets DVR! It magically eliminates all the things you don’t want to see in the game. Order now and we’ll throw in the new Chris Young hopper, which automatically skips over any batter you don’t care to watch!”

So here’s the deal if you don’t have four hours to spare and want to use time-shifting technology. First, you need another buddy who also tapes games. Then, you both start taping the game and let the delays, commercials, etc. “build up” so that you have no down time. Next, one of you starts watching the game about ninety minutes after it starts. During this time you must avoid the Internet, sports channels, and answer the phone not by saying “hello” but with, “Don’t tell me the score of the Mets game.”

I have this down to a science. If I’m the DW (Designated Watcher) on a particular day, I might make a call like this to my DVR buddy: “Fast forward to the fourth inning. Nothing happens till then.” Or this: “Blowout. Too painful to watch. Just delete it.” Or my favorite: “Don’t miss the look on Dillon Gee’s face when Collins takes him out after eighty pitches while he’s throwing a shutout.” (Freeze-frame opportunity!)

Of course there’s more than just the speeding-up factor; you can watch great catches by Juan Lagares again, slow them down frame by frame. Or in my case, replay those Keystone Cops moments for my wife, who will only watch sports if something funny happens. (She watched Mark Sanchez’s butt fumble over and over and over.)

As for the pace of today’s game, you may find this interesting. Mets fans of a certain age will remember that night games originally started at eight and we would go on a school night. Sunday doubleheaders began at one and you would be home in time for dinner. Thankfully, technology allows for the two-hour ballgame again.

Amazing, to bring back something good from the past we needed a modern invention. Works for me.

Noah Syndergaard has been hit hard at Las Vegas this season but his long-term outlook remains unchanged.

"Don’t scout the stat line" is a phrase commonly heard in scouting circles, especially when it comes to scouting Minor League or amateur players. There are a multitude of factors that play into a players’ stat line other than his true talent, including luck, age relative to his level, park factors, health, and transition to pro ball. For these reasons, it is essential to separate the numbers from the true talent, but when the numbers do not match the talent, it is often worth a second look to examine the causes of the poor numbers. Was the initial evaluation of the player inaccurate or can the poor performance be explained by other reasons? Have the tools that helped the player initially climb the lists regressed?

Using the Baseball Prospectus Midseason Top 50 Prospect list as our guide, there are four pitching prospects whose 2014 statistics do not match their high rankings. These prospects are, with their BP midseason ranking in parenthesis, Mets’ righty Noah Syndergaard (9), Reds’ righty Robert Stephenson (10), Diamondbacks’ righty Archie Bradley (14), and Astros’ righty Mark Appel (34).

This week, I’ll be examining one of these players each day. In today’s post, the first in this series, I will discuss Mets’ righthander Noah Syndergaard.

Syndergaard's 2014 Statistics

118.1 IP, 4.72 ERA, 1.507 ERA, 138 Hits, 11 HR, 40 BB, 127 K

Prior to 2014, many Mets fans expected Syndergaard to be the 2014 version of Zack Wheeler by performing well in the Minor Leagues, earning a midseason promotion to New York, and establishing himself in the Mets' rotation for years to come. Although that expectation was not met this season, there is little cause for concern about the hard throwing righthander’s long-term outlook.

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Though it seems like he has been around for quite a while, Syndergaard is still just 21 years old and already in Triple-A. The third-youngest player on an Opening Day PCL roster, many players his age are either still in college or finding their way in the low minors. Second, the big righty is throwing in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in one of the most hitter friendly leagues in all of Minor League baseball. This will certainly negatively affect his numbers, especially the hits and home runs allowed.

These things considered, there are many positives in Syndergaard’s stat line this season. Most importantly, he is a hard thrower who has stayed healthy and logged 118.1 innings this season. He will get a few more starts before the end of the season and is on track for close to a full MLB starters’ workload next season, assuming he makes the club. Syndergaard also has struck out more than a batter per inning, which suggests his stuff is fine, and has walked a reasonable 3.04 hitters per nine. His K/BB ratio, one of the statistics I most highly value, is a solid 3.18.

When we factor in the park effects, the most likely contributor to his .379 BABIP and 11 home runs (despite allowing just 78 fly balls – a 24.68% rate), his numbers look even better. Both the hit and home run totals are inflated and reflect neither his true talent nor his performance this season. If these numbers were to normalize, Syndergaard’s ERA and WHIP would drop to the point where this discussion would no longer be necessary.

Instead of being disappointed, I am pleased with how Syndergaard has thrown this season. He got hit around in a hitter’s park a bit, but he still showed signs of dominance by racking up the sixth most strikeouts in all of Triple-A baseball this season. The tools that landed him ninth on the BP Midseason Top 50 are intact, and though the young fireballer hasn’t been able to make his MLB debut and solidify himself as planned, his future outlook remains unchanged.

2015 Outlook

The Mets may hold Syndergaard in the Minors for a few weeks to secure an extra year of team control, but expect Syndergaard to spend most of the 2015 season in New York. Once he gets there, initially expect lots of strikeouts, a few more walks, and average ratios. In the long run, however, Syndergaard could use his frontline stuff to become a frontline starter and join a stacked young pitching core including the aforementioned Zack Wheeler and the returning Matt Harvey.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and MLB Farm. Prospect rankings courtesy of Baseball Prospectus

Dan Weigel, who has no idea how Syndergaard got the nickname "Thor", is a contributing writer for Minor League Ball and Beyond the Box Score. His tweets about prospects and stats are found at @DanWiggles38.

Who has hit the longest home run at Citi Field during the HitTracker era?

Giancarlo Stanton came to the plate to lead off the seventh inning on May 16th, 2011. In the process, he slammed a moonshot past the centerfield fences and onto the black tarp in Citi Field, notching a run to tie the score at one apiece. Little did Stanton know, that was the longest home run in Citi Field's history, a record that still stands to this day.

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When you reach the 10:20 PM (EST) mark in the Amazin' Avenue gamethread, you'll know what had happened. A smattering of expletives followed by groans of disappointment would alert you to some major event in the Marlins/Mets game continuum. A few comments later, the first real explanation appears: Giancarlo Stanton (then Mike Stanton).

As a prospect, Stanton possessed incredible power. He could easily slam home runs, racking up 67 in just two full minor league seasons. In 2010, he hit 43 home runs between AA Jacksonville and the MLB. In his first real start with the club in 2011, he began the season by batting 6th and finished the season batting 3rd, all while creating runs at a well above average 141 wRC+ clip. He clubbed 34 home runs and maintained a .537 SLG and .275 ISO.

Mike Pelfrey, on the other hand, was just an average pitcher at the time, sporting a 3.66 ERA over 33 starts in 2010. He began 2011 in the New York Mets rotation but suffered through a down season with a 3.0 BB/9 and a 4.9 K/9. With those ratios, it's hard to maintain any kind of success. Pelfrey was allowing too many balls in play (80.2%) and his ERA skyrocketed to 4.74.

Stanton entered the batter's box and awaited the first pitch. A fastball in the top of the zone was fouled off, a slider much too far left resulted in a ball, and another fastball was hit foul. Clearly, Stanton was making contact, even with pitches way out of the strike zone. Pelfrey wound up again and delivered an 85.2 mph slider to the right-center of the strike zone, which proceeded to fly far past the outfield fences (Video here).

Even though this home run left such an impression in Citi Field history, it wasn't even Stanton's longest of the season. He hit two home runs farther in 2011, traveling 466 and 474 feet respectively. Both were hit at Coors Field. This particular home run traveled 465 feet, 48.4 feet or 11.6% further than his usual home run in 2011. Similarly, the ball left the bat at 112.8 mph, 5.4 mph faster than average. In a hectic game where the Marlins won off a Burke Badenhop (Florida) single in the 11th inning, Stanton's home run proved to be a stellar blast. He tied the game at one run in the seventh and sent the game into extra innings.

The massive home run can be linked to two primary causes. First, Pelfrey's slider ranked among the worst in the game. Secondly, Stanton has a knack for slugging sliders in the bottom portion of the strike zone.

When pitted against all other qualified pitchers in 2011, Mike Pelfrey's slider ranked as the second-worst, only slightly ahead of Ryan Vogelsong. His slider was worth 8.8 runs below average and 1.61 runs below average per 100 sliders. The reason for these horrendous results stem from the pitch's lack of movement. Against the average MLB slider in 2011, Pelfrey's moved 0.6 fewer feet horizontally. Additionally, 16.67% of Pelfrey's sliders thrown during the game were grooved.

The bottom-right diagram below represents Giancarlo Stanton's slugging percentage on sliders in 2011. As you can see, he excelled on powering pitches in the bottom half. The specific slider's location (Right-Middle) has a 1.000 SLG%. Normally, that's a great rate for batters; however, Stanton's excels even more in the bottom-left side of the zone, making it appear like his performance in the right side is just average. Stanton also produced well versus sliders overall in 2011, ranking 23rd among batters with 5.5 wSL runs. With both factors in play on the eventful pitch, Stanton had the experience and excellence necessary to send the ball deep into the stadium.

Giancarlo Stanton was lucky enough to face off against one of the worst sliders in baseball in a favorable zone, creating the perfect environment for a monstrous home run. Citi Field's longest blast was one to remember.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs, HitTracker Online, Baseball Savant,Brooks Baseball, and Baseball-Reference.

Justin Perline is a writer for Beyond the Box Score and The Wild Pitch. You can follow him on Twitter at @jperline.

The Mets take their wilting offense to a place where it's not very easy to score runs.

What's going on with the Athletics?

Much has changed since the last time the Athletics faced the Mets in late June of this year. Not content to rely on miracle seasons from Scott Kazmir and Jesse Chavez to anchor his team's pitching rotation, general manager Billy Beane sent prized shortstop prospect Addison Russell along with Billy McKinney and Dan Straily to those Cubs in exchange for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.

It was kind of surprising to see such a blockbuster deal occur right after Independence Day, but Beane knows that if you're going to be a buyer, you should buy early. The Tigers may have pulled off a more impressive trade for a starting pitcher when they extracted David Price from Tampa Bay, but Beane's Athletics are getting more use out of their new hurlers thanks to the promptness of the Cubs deal.

It was even more surprising to see Oakland sneak in and acquire Jon Lester from the Red Sox right before the trade deadline. Lester, who was considered a near lock to be moved before July 31, was sought after by a multitude of contenders, but the Athletics were the team willing to part with the major league talent that Boston desired.

Yoenis Cespedes is a valuable slugger for sure, even when he isn't participating in the Home Run Derby. However, Oakland has a crowded outfield and likely saw Lester as the more valuable piece for the way its team is constructed. As wise as that trade may have been, the Athletics are now mired in an offensive slump that has seen them lose five straight games while scoring three or fewer runs in each contest. With a critical series with the rival Angels upcoming, Oakland likely views this short set with the Mets as a very important one.

Who are these guys?

Nate Freiman has been half of Oakland's first base platoon ever since the team traded Cespedes away and moved Brandon Moss to the outfield full-time. The 27-year-old non-prospect has shown modest power in the minor leagues during his career, but this season he's shown a real penchant towards punishing left-handed pitching. Freiman has four home runs against southpaws in just 33 plate appearances this season, and he's making a case to stay on the roster even as Kyle Blanks gets close to full health. The Mets aren't throwing any lefties at the Athletics this week, but Freiman could still be utilized as a pinch-hitter late in the game.

Sam Fuld is an interesting guy because he's already in his second stint with the Athletics this season. Back in April, the team designated Fuld for assignment in favor of the similarly skilled Craig Gentry, but Oakland ended up wanting their man back once Gentry got hurt and Cespedes was traded away. So it was that on July 31, the Athletics sent Tommy Milone (no longer needed thanks to the team's new wealth of pitching) to the Twins in order to reacquire Fuld. The journeyman doesn't start often, but he's a major asset on defense, especially when Moss and Jonny Gomes (also acquired from Boston at the deadline) are playing regularly in left field.

Who's on the mound?

Tuesday: Dillon Gee vs. Scott Kazmir

Kazmir has only recently cooled off from the early season's Cy Young pace, but he's still an important member of Oakland's rotation. He's just not as important now that the team has added ace-types in Samardzija and Lester. After a sizzling July in which he posted a 1.38 ERA in four starts, Kazmir has let up 12 runs in his last three starts. Perhaps he's ripe to be pounded again, which is what the Mets did the last time they saw the former top prospect. Back in June, New York lit up Kazmir for seven runs in three innings, which still stands as the lefty's worst outing of the season.

It's been really tough to get excited for a Gee start since the first half of the season, but at least he's been passable lately with a 3.38 ERA in three August starts. Nevertheless, Gee needs to start keeping the ball in the park with more regularity if he is going to be a major part of the Mets' rotation beyond this season. Players like Moss and Josh Reddick make it tough for right-handed pitchers to avoid home runs against Oakland, even in spacious O.co Coliseum.

Wednesday: Zack Wheeler vs. Jeff Samardzija

With 40 strikeouts and just seven walks allowed as an Athletic so far, Samardzija has given his new team just what it needed when it dealt for the big right-hander in early July. Although Samardzija isn't striking out batters the way he used to this season, he's made strides in other important categories like walks, home runs allowed, and ground ball rate. All that has made the former Notre Dame football player an asset worth trading a prospect like Russell for. Thanks to unbalanced scheduling, this will be the first time the Mets see Samardzija this season.

Since they haven't been able to do much in the way of run scoring lately, the Mets probably won't be too thrilled to see Samardzija this week. The Athletics, on the other hand, are probably chomping at the bit to get another shot at Wheeler. The right-hander was shelled for six runs in two innings the last time he faced Oakland, but since then it's been nothing but quality starts for Wheeler, even though he's walked at least three batters in his last three outings. The Mets need their man to get back to showing the command he had in July if they want to hang around with Oakland on Wednesday night.

Prediction: The Mets finally find some runs and split the short series.

What about some highlights?

The Mets' offense is in dire straits right now, but the last time it faced Kazmir, there was towel-waving fun to be had.

If you ever wonder what the umpires and managers talk about when they exchange lineup cards, this video is a "must see."

I'm sure you've seen plenty of these lately, but it's for a good cause and Athletics mascot Stomper is adorable.

Remember to check out FanDuel.com for some fun, one-day fantasy baseball action!

Why would do the Mets constantly carp and grump about their most exciting pitching prospect in a generation? Because it's what they do.

There is no good kind of sports team owner, really. Some are demonstrably better than others, but when the most desirable options are Distant Globetrotting Billionaire With Open Checkbook and Stubborn Octogenarian Pillar Of The Community, Possibly Wearing A Hat, Also With Open Checkbook, we are not dealing in ideal outcomes. There is, at least, more diversity among the owner population than in years past. Not in terms of race or ethnicity, naturally -- remember the nature of this particular country club, remember the members -- but relative to the fact that, a generation ago, most sports teams were owned by some meatfaced version of Jerry Reinsdorf.

Today, though, to survey owners suites is to taste the rainbow of circa-now plutocracy. We see the dry-drunk scions of old dynasties and grandiose telecom dudes and taut-faced petro-types, various open-collared local swells that use the Internet poorly and the odd bronzed objectivist from the world of tech. It's a wonderful time to be alive and betting some small part of our emotional well-being on the franchises these people own, at least insofar as there is a diverse array of extremely rich men eager to mess with our moods through the teams we care about.

But some things have not changed. There are no owners in professional sports quite like the Wilpons, which is why there is no team quite like the New York Mets.

This sounds more complimentary than it is. What it means, mostly, is that the Mets are owned by a special type of New York rich person -- one as self-sentimentalizing and thin-skinned as the Knicks mock-turtlenecked despot James Dolan, but different -- that does not otherwise exist in sufficient number elsewhere.The Mets and the sour Mets-y vibe surrounding them are proof of how well this works.

They are a franchise from another era, in many ways. The diversified and professionalized ownership caste has mostly shuffled out the old, idiosyncratic incompetents of yore -- bigoted cheapskates like Marge Schott and Tom Yawkey died, and the less-interested third-generation team inheritors cashed out while the cashing out was good -- and given way to a certain blanket, blanking corporate parity. This is pretty much a good thing. There are a few teams that overtly reflect their owners' personalities and various venalities or strong points, but give or take a Jeffrey Loria, most baseball teams work more or less the same way, and function on the same continuum of competence.

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What makes the Mets unique is also what has made them lousy for nearly a decade: they are an extension and reflection of their owners, both in terms of the team's money problems logically flowing from those of the Wilpons' and in the way that the promising, intermittently joyous team that's developing in Queens is doing so amid an ambient vibe of blustering, blowhardy pissiness. Of course the baseball is more fun than the non-baseball -- that is always true. But what's not fun about the Mets comes so clearly from the issues -- the personality, self-created and self-denied money problems and general towering competence issues -- of the owners.

Still, these Mets were good enough and lucky enough to develop Matt Harvey. Matt Harvey, who has the swagger, statistics and skills of a great star in the making, and whose performance in 2013 was the most electric by a Mets pitcher in many years. Matt Harvey who is presently on his way back from Tommy John surgery. Matt Harvey, who for no reason and with perfect Wilponian rhyme has been cast as something of a villain by the team more or less since the moment he became great.

★★★

All of the above is the property of Fred Wilpon, who managed to become a great successes in New York real estate without ever becoming anything bigger or better than the sort of creaky, self-mythologizing narcissist that reflexively tells and re-tells stories about how, decades ago, he was in the Penn Relays or was complimented by Duke Snider or whatever. Fred, for instance, would love to tell you about how he played on the same high school sports teams as Sandy Koufax. If you are standing near him, he is already doing it.

The diners of Manhattan and Brooklyn are lousy and loud with these honking aged children, but only one of them owns the Mets. And Fred Wilpon owns the Mets exactly as incompetently as one of these men would. He has said that he views the team as a "family heirloom" and intends to leave it to his son Jeff, who is already a prodigious figure in the world of Nasty Anonymous Quotes About Ex-Players and who will likely run the team exactly as the son of such a man would.

The most damaging portion of the Wilpons' malpractice -- more damaging to their team's fortunes, and to the sustaining hope among fans that things might somehow someday be different -- is harder to understand. That is how the Wilpons must have it, as it all involves a series of secret and semi-secret loans, deferred payments, willfully opaque bookkeeping, and the other methods that the Wilpons have deployed to conceal just how fucked their team's finances truly are, both because of their disastrous financial dealings with Bernie Madoff, and the flubby ongoing shell game that has been their aftermath.

Fred Wilpon, fittingly looking more like a manager than an owner. (Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports)

But, during the season, when the team they made is on the field, the most irritating and constant element of The Wilpon Problem is stylistic and tonal. The team's failings largely reflect those of the owners, but the noise the team makes is the real problem. The financial ineptitude that created the circumstances that led to this team are all bad and unhelpful, but the Mets are a baseball team, and one that is not always excruciating to watch; they are in the process of becoming something, which is a positive step after a long period of just being the Mets.

This should be the fun part, if only because we are watching baseball games instead of guessing -- along with GM Sandy Alderson -- at the team's available operating budget or attempting to parse the incessant deferrals of various nine-figure loans. And yet this doesn't quite work, either, because of the way that creeping Wilponism haunts the club.

So we get the owner -- the guy who "knows baseball," Sandy Koufax's old teammate -- bringing his imagined expertise to bear through constant micromanaging, for instance, or indulging his every executive caprice and airing his sports radio-grade irks about his players. Witness, for instance, Fred Wilpon's instantly infamous on-the-record scouting reports of his own players from this 2011 New Yorker profile, or the anonymous trashing of former players, or the incessant low-level undermining and second-guessing of goings-on in the present that crop up with regularity in the Wilpon-friendly New York Daily News.

It would naturally seem strange to observers unused to the thin air and heavy gravity of Planet Wilpon that the team would go so egregiously and strangely out of its way to alienate Harvey, who was most recently criticized by team officials and manager Terry Collins for expressing the apparently scandalous sentiment that he'd like to return to the mound this season.

Mike Lupica, one of the elder-grumps of the New York sports media, amplified and clarified the Wilpon line on Harvey in the Daily News, sternly instructing the "spoiled child" that "he really does need to get it through his head that his job, even rehabbing from surgery, is baseball pitcher, and not celebrity." Again, this was in response to Harvey noting that his rehab is going well and saying that he hoped to pitch in the bigs in 2014, not news that he was "still deciding which Jenner to date" or releasing a dubstep album under the name Alistair Megapenus.

While this is objectively a very strange way for a team to treat its best and most popular young player, it has been the Mets' approach with Harvey at every turn. It's not that all this is any less strange to those of us who make our summer homes on Planet Wilpon, but it is so deeply, wearyingly familiar. And it's familiar not just because this type of weird reflexive scolding has followed Harvey through his rise to stardom, but because it is something like the Wilpon way. This cartoonish meta-leadership is the only thing the Wilpons do reliably. They say "no" and "stop" and "don't" because they can, and to remind themselves and everyone else who gets to say no and stop and don't.

It's a dumb and high-handed way to deal with Matt Harvey -- it's a dumb and high-handed way to deal with anyone -- but the willful hypocrisy and silly-salty umbrage of it is, in a backhanded way, clarifying. The Wilpon Way is to demand accountability from others, but not from themselves; it is to demand steely discipline from everyone in their employ, while demonstrating none.

It's a bummer, of course, and not just where it relates to Matt Harvey. The self-satirizing elements of it -- these petty and childish men decrying a lack of maturity in others, these mediocre men demanding what they cannot earn and can't afford -- are maybe too successful as satire to be especially funny. There is no need for the Wilpons to keep reminding everyone who is in charge in Queens, although that will not stop them from doing it. It's impossible to forget, and difficult to ignore. That's the problem.

They're not getting on base. They're not hitting for power. It's kind of a big mess.

In the wake of the Mets going five straight games with four or fewer hits, ESPN stats expert Mark Simon posted this wonderful graph to Twitter.

This graph says everything needed to be said about the Mets offense the last 30 days pic.twitter.com/948PKlcVI5

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) August 19, 2014

You don't have to be a "nerd" or "stathead" to understand what is going on here.

The Mets' offense stinks right now. Everyone is in a slump, and there is no end in sight. Unless you believe in regression (the good kind!) to the mean.

Curtis Granderson, once a shining beacon of on-base and slugging percentage, has completely gone in the tank this month with zero home runs and a .400 OPS. Daniel Murphy is at least batting .296, but only has two walks, two stolen bases, and one home run since the end of July. David Wright isn't producing either, and the captain's injury woes are a concern not only for this season, but for the future of the Mets' offense.

Even Lucas Duda and his home run binge have slowed down.

Of course, the Mets can't possibly hit this poorly forever. The Padres were formerly baseball's symbol of offensive futility, and they now have the highest OBP on Simon's chart. The Mets are going to hit better for the remainder of August and through September. The real question is how much better they will be.

Duda and Travis d'Arnaud have shown the potential to be solid bats at their positions for years to come, but there's a lot to worry about at other parts of the diamond. Wright's poor season could be a sign that he is declining more quickly than we expected. Ditto with Granderson, the only other starter on a long-term deal.

We all love Juan Lagares for his defense, but his lack of offense is starting to become an issue. Murphy has just one year left on his deal and might not be a part of the team's future. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on whether Matt den Dekker and Wilmer Flores can be future starters or mere bench pieces.

While the Mets may be playing themselves out of a playoff spot, there is still much baseball to be played, and how the Mets play that baseball will give the front office a better idea of what it needs to do over the winter. Keep on not hitting, and the "trade pitching for hitting" drum will only become louder. Show some spark for the rest of the season, and the Mets may not have to overpay for the offense that they so desire.

With deGrom seemingly ready to return, Montero appears to be the odd man out in the Mets' rotation.

After Jacob deGrom threw a successful bullpen again this afternoon in Oakland, Mets manager Terry Collins told the team's beat reporters that deGrom is scheduled to get the start against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Saturday night. In addition, Collins said that Rafael Montero, who pitched a great game on Sunday afternoon in Queens, might work out of the Mets' bullpen on Wednesday.

With Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, and Jon Niese slated the start the Mets' next three games, deGrom will slot back into the rotation ahead of Bartolo Colon, who will presumably return from the bereavement list on Sunday following the death of his mother.

The 26-year-old deGrom—who was originally called up to the Mets to pitch in relief but wound up in the rotation before he did—has a 2.87 ERA and 3.05 FIP in sixteen starts for the Mets this year and has been a very pleasant surprise. Montero has a 5.01 ERA in six major league starts this year, though he has pitched to better results in Triple-A Las Vegas. He has just five relief appearances in his professional career, all of which came back in 2011, his first year in the Mets' system.

The Mets could not muster much as they fell to the A's in the first of two games in Oakland.

The Mets did not appear to have any interest in winning tonight's ballgame and were thoroughly beaten by the Oakland Athletics by a score of 6-2. Scott Kazmir was sharp, while Dillon Gee was not.

Travis d'Arnaud put the Mets ahead 1-0 on a solo bomb in the top of the fourth, but the lead was extremely short lived. Gee, after loading the bases but escaping unscathed in the third, loaded the bases again in the fourth and could not keep the A's off the board. Alberto Callaspo plated the first run with a bases loaded sacrifice fly, and then after Eric Sogard walked to re-load the bases, Coco Crisp dealt the death blow with a bases clearing triple to make the game 4-1.

The Mets managed another run in the seventh off an Anthony Recker RBI double to make it 4-2, but Gonzalez German came out in the eighth and served up a two run moonshot to Josh Reddick to put any hopes of a rally in the ninth to bed.

Read the full recap.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.